


The Light Behind the Shadows

by rayshant_bestopt



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Bisexual Barry Allen, Bisexual Oliver Queen, M/M, atoning Black Siren, atoning Savitar, implied Barry Allen/Oliver Queen attraction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 05:40:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11548629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayshant_bestopt/pseuds/rayshant_bestopt
Summary: The arrangement was new.  Barry--FlashBarry, Barry from this time-- had managed to defeat Savitar in the way he always did, by being a source of goodness and light that somehow managed to bring out the best in people.  He’d found a way to talk down his future self, and stabilize him, to separate them completely and keep him from being erased from existence.  However, the dark version of the speedster and the team soon realized that Barry’s “twin” Bart was running into the same problem he’d apparently come across when he was originally created-- he just didn’t fit in.And so Oliver, knowing a thing or two about inner darkness, had been persuaded to take on the Time Remnant; bringing “Bart” Allen to Star City





	The Light Behind the Shadows

“What did you _do_?!”

Barry looked over at Felicity. “What I had to.”

“You didn’t have to kill him! _Barry _would never--”__

“I. Am not. _Barry_!” Oliver watched as the future clone version of Barry Allen glared at the blonde angrily, the scars contorting half of his expression. If it had scared the computer genius in the beginning however, it certainly didn’t have the same effect now, as she merely fixed him with an equally furious look, striding over to get right up into his face. 

“ _Obviously_.” She turned to Oliver, the disappointment clear on her face. “I’m going to go check on the rest of Keller’s crew-- see if I can find another way to track down the weapons.”

Heels clacked angrily along the Arrow Cave as she left the room, and Oliver and Dig shared a look before the latter nodded and sighed, turning to follow after her and leaving the Green Arrow and the black-clad speedster alone in silence. 

The arrangement was new. Barry-- _Flash_ Barry, Barry from this time-- had managed to defeat Savitar in the way he always did, by being a source of goodness and light that somehow managed to bring out the best in people. He’d found a way to talk down his future self, and stabilize him, to separate them completely and keep him from being erased from existence. However, the dark version of the speedster and the team soon realized that Barry’s “twin” Bart was running into the same problem he’d apparently come across when he was originally created-- he just didn’t fit in. He loved Iris, who had married _her_ Barry; he’d all but destroyed his bonds with Team Flash during his efforts to become a god; and he felt like a mere shadow to the “real” Barry Allen. The other man had explained to Oliver that he was worried that they were inadvertently sending him on a path toward becoming Savitar anyways.

And so Oliver, knowing a thing or two about inner darkness, had been persuaded to take on the Time Remnant; bringing “Bart” Allen to Star City to work for Thea at Verdant (as he wasn’t comfortable taking on a CSI position at SCPD), and helping with Team Arrow. He was a little more comfortable around Dinah and Rene and Curtis, as they had only gotten to know the Flash vaguely, and could easily see him as a separate person, once they got past the scars. And Dig had seen a lot of people lose themselves to their pain and grief, so while he was wary of the new man, he was willing to give him a chance.

It was Felicity, however, who had dug her heels in; who saw the Barry that was and tried to bring him out, and was all but merciless in her morals when the former villain disappointed her. The two butted heads constantly as she demanded better of him and he cruelly insisted that there was no such thing-- that he was merely a dog on a chain, one that he’d handed to them, but it didn’t change who he was. Their fights would often rattle the place, and end with one or both of them storming off.

Blue eyes took in the lanky form that stood stubbornly motionless in the center of the room, one emerald eye staring forward. But Oliver wasn’t fooled-- he knew Barry, and this one wasn’t as different as he let on. He quietly closed the space between them, a hand touching his shoulder to turn the speedster toward him. The expression was still dark and fierce, but Oliver could see the guilt and shame behind it, the disappointment that he couldn’t seem to live up to who he once had been.

 _Because you’re not that guy anymore, Barr,_ Oliver had told him once, as he’d pushed around the food on his plate with his fork in the kitchen he and Earth 2 Laurel Lance now shared (Ollie wasn’t fooled-- he knew the speedster would ravage the fridge and then head for Big Belly Burger later). _And...with everything that’s happened, you’re going to have to accept you can’t go back to being him. You’re going to have to be your own person-- find your own path._

That light that always had been a part of Barry Allen-- that seemed to emanate from him and warm Oliver from tip to toe-- perked a little then, through shadows of the broken figure. It gave Oliver hope, and had cemented the man’s belief that the speedster could be redeemed. 

“We’ll find a way to fix this,” he reassured the younger (older?) man now, and his stubborn expression fell away a little bit as those damned puppy eyes-- yes, still wide and needy, even as one was glossed over from an injury he still wouldn’t talk about-- looked over to him. 

Felicity needed time, and as she was still stewing, Oliver thought it might be best to just bring Barry back to the loft. The two men shed their jackets and moved to flop on either side of the couch, a sudden flutter of papers and curtains the only indication that Barry had taking a slight detour to grab two beers from the fridge.

“Why do you do this?” 

Oliver shifted his gaze over to the other man at his outburst, regarding him curiously. “Do what?”

“This.” His hands extended outward and around him. “Just...we’re sitting on your couch, waiting for Felicity to call us so we can fight a bunch of thugs, and then go to work in the morning like we’re regular people. I’ve killed people, Oliver-- people you cared about. People _I_ cared about. I _still_ kill people. Your team doesn’t trust me. My own family can’t even look at me." He stared forward, taking a useless pull from his bottle. "I’m not a good guy-- why are you doing this for me?”

Oliver’s heart broke as he listened to the man’s voice try to hide the slight tremor that betrayed its self-loathing. He shifted closer toward him on the couch. “You messed up Barry-- we all have. Even the other Barry. No one’s perfect. But I still believe in you.”

“You mean you believe I can still be _him_ ,” the other man corrected bitterly.

“No-- you are two different people that have gone through incredibly different experiences. Maybe you started out the same, but you’re not like that anymore. You don’t have the same memories anymore. It’s like...like being from different universes, sort of, right?” Oliver’s hand was back on Barry’s shoulder, squeezing gently as he tried to reassure him. “No one will ever know what it’s like to be in your place, Barry, because no one can do what you do. You’re not some evil clone-- you’re just Barry that made a different choice. A wrong choice, but that doesn’t make you evil. And you’re not the only one that’s done that-- or killed people. I’ve got my own regrets, my own darkness. I just don’t have another version of me that _didn’t_ make those mistakes running around for people to compare me to.” He raised an eyebrow, trying to catch the emerald eye. As awful as Oliver felt for the Barry he knew for having to live with knowing that all of this was the result of his mistakes, he felt more for the Barry in front of him now-- who had committed all of the actions as a result of feeling so lost and isolated that he felt he had nothing to lose. It was his own Lian Yu, in a way-- Savitar being his own Slade. 

Barry turned his face slightly to look at him full on, his milky eye as intense as the green on the other side. Oliver’s head imperceptibly nodded, and the other man leaned forward, wrapping his arms around the archer and letting out a single quiet sob. Oliver couldn’t understand how people couldn’t see that this was an entirely different man, just holding him the way he was now he could see a speedster that was terrified to let himself feel anything again, and yet still felt the weight of the world so heavily he’d once elected to destroy it and himself to ease the pain. The mayor of Star City sighed and pulled Barry closer. “You’re going to be okay, Barr.”

After a minute, Barry pulled away, that same glimmer of light, spark of hope in his eye that told Oliver that he wasn’t wrong to have faith in the man. “You know Ollie,” the speedster told him with a shy smile, “you’re the only person that calls me Barry that I actually believe sees me as someone besides him.” Oliver smiled and shrugged-- he could easily distinguish Barry the Flash and the Barry in front of him from each other in his mind, and so, while he maintained the masquerade of “Bart” with everyone else in public, here-- here he was just Barry.

An intense look came over Barry’s face, and he bit his bottom lip as if gathering up his nerve. Before Oliver could ask, though, Barry had leaned forward, carefully brushing his lips against the older man’s. The Green Arrow froze, then jerked backward in surprise, staring bewilderedly at the speedster, who’d just seemed to realize what he’d done.

“Oh my god-- I’m so sorry Ollie. I don’t know why-- I’m so sorry.” He practically tripped over himself trying to scramble off the couch, fingers pressed against his lip and half of his face flushing bright red in embarrassment.

“No, it’s okay-- Barry, look-- it’s--” Oliver wasn’t sure what had just happened, but the poor guy in front of him looked mortified, and every part of him wanted to make things okay again. 

“I should go.”

“No, you don’t have to-- just, calm down, Barry. It’s okay.”

But a rustling of air, and Oliver was just talking to himself in the apartment, the speedster gone. Oliver cursed and grabbed his jacket, jogging toward the elevator to chase after the other man, even though he had no idea what he was going to say.


End file.
